In interactive editorials, the editor
of Al-Jazeerah answers questions and or responds to comments of readers,
which are more general than readers' responses to specific articles or
issues. It is an effective method of interaction in electronic journalism.

Douglas Rotondi

I read your mission statement, and I commend you for publishing
news without hateful or derogatory comments and for attempting to be a tool of
education to non-Arabs or non-Muslims. (1)
It would be nice if Al-Jazeerah could also serve as an educational tool for Muslims regarding the
United States and the rest of the western world, and address the deep
seeded hatred of the U.S. in the Muslim world.

Hassan El-Najjar

(1) Al-Jazeerah
is an educational tool to anybody who wants to learn, irrelevant of
religious background. It is a forum for Muslims and non-Muslims to
interact producing more understanding among people all over the world.
This interactive editorial should hopefully be a contribution towards that
noble goal. Readers are encouraged to send in their questions, comments,
or articles.

Concerning what you call "the deep
seeded hatred of the US in the Muslim world," I cannot agree with you
that this exists until we have surveys in all Muslim countries and among
the 1.3 billion Muslims all over the world. We should not think of all
Muslims as if they are mass produced to think and behave in a certain way.
They are as diverse as people of other religions and creeds everywhere.
What is there, not only among Muslims but also among people in all
continents from all faiths and creeds, is a deep criticism and disapproval
of the US foreign policy, which is mainly based on the use of force, and
in support of injustice, dictatorships, and autocracies. During the second
half of the twentieth century alone, the US was involved in the major wars
of Korea, Vietnam, and the 1991 Gulf War, the invasions of Grenada and
Panama, the support for the dictators of Cuba (Batista), Nicaragua
(Sumosa), the Philippines (Marcus), and the Middle Eastern non-democratic
regimes. On top of all of that, the US has been the only sustainer and
protector of Israel, which represents the most repressive and oppressive
regime on earth. Israelis commit war crimes on daily basis against
Palestinians after they had dispossessed and uprooted them. Yet they have
the full support of the US government.

You didn't hear about Muslim "deep
seeded hatred of the US" before the collapse of the communist regimes
in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union because the US focused on defeating
communism. Actually, Muslim groups were used by the US to fight the
pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan. Even the Taliban government was
supported by the US. Once the Cold War was over, its beneficiaries in the
US had to find a new enemy. After all, the Cold War was a $12.8 trillion
industry and the US Cold War entrepreneurs could not afford seeing it
vanish. They had to start Cold War II by installing a new enemy to replace
communism. It took them the entire decade of the 1990s to achieve that
goal, and that enemy turned to be "Islamism." Their slogan
was, as I wrote in my book about the Gulf War, "Communism is dead,
long live Islamism." The 1991 Gulf War was the start, and we are
living its consequences. It seems that the US is heading towards Gulf War
II, which will have other consequences, and so on.

So, it is not really hatred towards the
American people and their institutions or their way of life, like some
media instigators and politicians say. Rather, it is toward the biased and
unjust foreign policy of the US government. Finally, there is no hatred or
animosity towards the "Western World," as you think. Muslims do
not have a problem with Western European countries. Muslim immigrants
there are doing very well, and the European Union countries have opposed
any US attack on Iraq. So, it is the US vis-a-vis the Arab and Muslim
countries now, as it was the US vis-a-vis Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Nicaragua,
etc.

Douglas Rotondi

(2) Regarding the many Islamic separatist movements
currently active all
over the world, one thing I find missing from the news coverage is why
these groups want their own country to begin with? What is so bad about
living under the Indian government or the Philippines government? Do
they want Sharia law? Are they being under-represented in the government?
Are they being over taxed and neglected as far as education and
infrastructure? It seems that almost every country with a sizeable Muslim
minority has a problem with separatists. There is a large Arab
community in Michigan in the U.S., will they one day want their own
country?

Hassan El-Najjar

(2)
With regard to what you call Muslim "separatism," in the
Philippines, Kashmir, Chechnya, and Palestine (you described Palestinians
as separatists in your third question), there should be no surprise about
that. The US supported the previous Soviet republics to break away from
the Soviet Union. The US also supported Christian East Timor to separate
from Indonesia. The US supported Christian southern Sudanese for decades to
separate from the Muslim north. What's wrong with allowing predominantly
Muslim regions to have self rule or self determination. If we apply the
same standard to everybody, this shouldn't be a problem. Your question
about Arab-Americans needs to be qualified with the fact that they are
both Christians and Muslims. If you imagine a time in which Jewish
Americans will have their own independent states in New York, Florida, and
California, or Catholic Americans have their own independent state of
Massachusetts, then you can imagine the same for Arabs, too. However, the
US society is guarded against separatism by its multicultural nature,
which is missing from these regions.

You should not have added Palestinians
to other Muslims who are fighting for their freedom in other parts of the
world, for several reasons. First, while Kashmiris are citizens of India and Chechens are
citizens of the Russian Fedaration, Palestinians are not citizens of
Israel. Actually, had Israel granted citizenship to Palestinians in 1948,
and allowed them to keep their possessions and property, there would be no Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Second, there are very
specific UN resolutions that address the resolution of the Palestinian
problem through the establishment of a Palestinian state and through
solving the refugee problem by repatriation and compensation. The conflict
has continued so far because Israel has refused to comply with the UN
resolutions, fully supported and protected by the US successive
administrations. Thus, Palestinians are not rebels or separatists, simply
because they are not Israeli citizens.

* Douglas Rotondi is a tax accountant, in Boston, Massachusetts,
USA. He has a bachelors degree in accounting.